Tribe, developer hold conference on BIA approval

Quoddy Bay LLC and the Passamaquoddy tribal government at Pleasant Point announced on July 5 that they would hold a news conference on July 7 for a major announcement regarding the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at Pleasant Point. Efforts to find out the nature of the announcement prior to the press conference were unsuccessful.

Prior to the meeting, the Associated Press reported that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had approved a lease agreement between the tribe and Quoddy Bay LLC. Efforts to reach BIA officials for confirmation of the report were also unsuccessful. The approval would be the first of many steps necessary before final approval could be obtained for the project.

Remarks are to be made at the July 7 news conference by Passamaquoddy Tribal Chief Melvin Francis; Craig Francis, Passamaquoddy general counsel; Don Smith, president of Quoddy Bay LLC; and Brian Smith, project manager of Quoddy Bay LLC.

The Sipayik members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe signed a land-lease agreement on May 19 with Quoddy Bay LLC for the development of an LNG facility at Split Rock. With the signing of the land-lease agreement, Pleasant Point become the first terminal proposal accepted by a Maine community and the first accepted by an Indian reservation. The Split Rock project site is located entirely on Pleasant Point tribal territory, just south of the reservation on Route 190.

Following the May 19 signing of the lease agreement, the tribe submitted a request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a waiver of a required land appraisal of the site. The waiver of the land appraisal has been granted.

Vera Francis of the group We Protect Our Homeland says, "Our attorneys have challenged the land-lease agreement on several levels, including the waiver for the land appraisal." Francis believes it is not a matter of quickly approving the lease unless the process includes tribal participation. "We will protect our land and defend our land rights."

FERC decision to be challenged
On July 6, the Conservation Law Foundation, New England's leading environmental advocacy organization, announced, on the eve of the Maine announcement, that it will take action to appeal the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) preliminary approval of a LNG terminal in Fall River, Mass., calling the Massachusetts decision a serious mistake. "We are appealing the decision based on FERC's inadequate analysis of serious safety issues as well as the commission's refusal to undertake an adequate assessment of just how much LNG New England is going to need in the coming years," stated Roger Fleming, senior attorney in CLF's Brunswick office.